Week Ten (and a little extra)

The past two weeks have been exceptionally exciting here at The Island School.  They have been filled with down island trips, our 8-day kayak trips, tropical storm Noel, an impromptu Coffeehouse, game night, a fish fry, Halloween for the Deep Creek Middle School, as well as lots of research and academics.  As kayak groups K3 and K4 stayed back on the cape to finish off their academics with an intense 8-day academic rotation punctuated with activities such as a fish fry in Governor’s Harbor and setting up a haunted house for the local middle school kids, K1 and K2 set off for their down island trip and kayak trip. 

K2 visiting the jail at the navy base

K1 set off on their kayak 8-day while K2 set off in their vans “down island,” which is actually going north up the island.  On the down island trip, K2 got an exclusive tour of a local pineapple farm, then traveled up and explored Preacher’s Cave and camped on the beach near the caves for the night.  The next day was jam-packed with adventures and delicious food: chocolate milkshakes in Spanish Wells, getting to see “The Glass Window,” delectable pineapple tarts in Gregory Town, jumping off high rocks in a local bay, visiting the old abandoned navy base, and finishing off the day with a nice dinner followed by a much anticipated visit to a local ice-cream shop. Mmmmmmmmm…The last day of the down island trip, K2 woke up and had a body surfing morning exercise followed by a breakfast full of cherry doughnuts, coffee cake, and sweet rolls, all coming from the Governor’s Harbor bakery.  The rest of the day K2 explored Governor’s Harbor, climbed in the huge Banyan tree, and returned to a warm welcome back on campus.  As K2 got ready for their kayak departure, K1 was trekking an epic eight miles to Lighthouse Beach for their 48 hour solos because the ocean was too rough to kayak around the southern point of Eleuthera.

Enjoying the beaches of Eleuthera

While K1 was on their solos doing personal reflections, K2 paddled through a very exciting rain storm, through the moonlit night, and up at the crack of dawn to paddle 22 km, all to get to the desired destination:  Lighthouse Beach.  Once there, the kids were assigned their solo spots where some built shelters, played with soldier crabs, and most importantly, reflected on their time here at The Island School.  All of these activities were shortly interrupted by Tropical Storm Noel.  They all weathered the cold, rainy night during the beginning of the storm until the next morning when they were pulled out early to seek more safe shelter in the lighthouse, which was also cut short due to the storm becoming more intense.  Everyone made their way back to The Island School to be reunited for a few days with the rest of the community.

What rain?

Making t-shirts during Tropical Storm Noel

For the next few days the community was stuck on the cape and bonded immensely.  Although kayak trips and down island trips were rearranged and some cut short, we were all glad to be back together for a short while.  Not even the four straight days of rain, wind, and lightning could get us Island Schoolers down.  During these days, rainy-day activities were implemented such as t-shirt decorating (courtesy of Catharyn), a Halloween Charlie Brown film, an impromptu Coffeehouse, and game night with intense games of mafia, a hilarious game of celebrity, and various other games to keep our spirits high.  Many unexpected surprises came up as well, such as being stuck in the dining hall because of lightning, but making the most of it by us all singing along to Sam playing old Beetles favorites on his guitar such as “Let it be” and “Eight days a week."  When the storm finally past it was nice to go for a run outside to the marina and around the loop, which we soon found out had been converted into a thigh deep river from all the rain! Another exciting moment after the storm was having the kitchen ladies being able to come in and cook us a very much needed meal of French toast and sausage after eating cold* cereal breakfast for the past 2 weeks because of kayak and the storm.

Bradley, Emily, Kelly P, and Ian rocking the Coffeehouse

Once the weather died down, K1 and K4 went on their down island trip to Rock Sound via an awesome boat ride on the Cobia, while K3 set out on their 8-day and K2 finished up their solos along a near-by beach.  Since then, K4 has also left on their kayak trip while K1 and K2 have been working through their 8 straight days of academics and research before preparation for Parent’s Weekend begins. See you guys in a week!!!

*room temperature (but when it is cold-OH MAN)

Shoutouts

Carina:  Hey Grandpa Gigi! Hope you are doing well. Thanks for the mail Aunt Letitia, Aunt Mimi, Aunt Tami, Cousin Leah, Zoe, Monica, Janessa, and Emily, it means a lot and I love you all! Send me world updates like new songs and sports clippings and facebook updates. Btw ‘rents, I need a squirt water bottle.  Oooh, I learned how to throw a football!!! Next semester, I’m visiting you in the end of May/early June for conch fest and your 8-miler during academic/kayak rotation isn’t really that bad. Mom how’s applications and deadlines going? Dad how’s fencing? Mom and Dad, how’s ballroom going? James how’s PhoHo(?) sophomore year and sailing? Nicole, I miss you SOOO much, how’s Ailey?!?!? I miss you all hope you are all doing well, see you soon-Carina!

Molly:  Hey guys, I miss you all so much. Mom, John, and Grandpa, I can’t wait to see you in one week! Dad and Cate, I miss you and love you both and can’t wait to see you in December. Everyone else at home, I miss you so much. I love it here and I wish you could all have this experience! Annie, Liz, Molly, Chive, Strans, Kayla, Jo, and Bren thanks for all the letters I miss you all terribly and I love you!

Will:  Hey everyone! I’m having an amazing time here and my kayak and down island trips were so much fun.  It’s sad to think I only have a little less than a month left here.  Everyone back home, I miss you!  Mom, Dad, Kate, Elliot, and Luke; I can’t wait to see you guys in just a week, you’re going to love it here!! Tell Max, Tessa, and the little hooligans I say hi in the meantime… Shipley people-I hope junior year as well as everything else is going well.  I miss you guys, I can’t wait until I get to see you all when I get home in December.  Thank you to all the people who have sent me things, keep the letters coming!!  I miss you all and see you soon!

Henry M.:  Hey everyone, IS is going great! We’re in the middle of our academic week and it is a lot of work, but Parent’s Weekend is almost here and everybody is really excited. Hey Mom and Dad, I can’t wait to see you, and for you to meet everyone down here. Hannah, I miss you, but it’s great to hear from you in your letters and on the phone. Hey Nobles ‘09, I hope junior year is going well so far, and that all of the teams are doing well. I miss all of you guys, and it will be fun to see everyone when I get home. This final month will go by fast, but I’m going to try to enjoy all of it before Dec. 6. Eddie, Bish, and Matt-I can’t wait to see you guys when I get home.

The Island School during a stormy sunset